Spouses who made millions from fake reviews were detained by police
In the Moscow region, police officers detained spouses who earned millions of rubles for fake comments on a marketplace. This was reported by the official representative of the Russian Interior Ministry Irina Volk in Telegram-channel on January 10.
"The spouses took advantage of a promotion held at one of the marketplaces. The online retailer awarded bonuses for leaving a comment on the purchase. <...> The attackers placed an order, used special software to leave a comment, and then canceled the purchase. Thus from various accounts were posted about a million comments," - indicated Volk.
She added that to exchange points for real money, the fraudsters registered a fictitious online store. In it, they sold goods at an inflated cost to themselves, and used illegally obtained points for payment.
According to preliminary data, the total damage to the online retailer exceeded 18 million rubles.
A criminal case has been opened on the grounds of a crime under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud as part of an organized criminal group, fraud causing damage to the victim on a particularly large scale, fraud resulting in deprivation of the right of a citizen to residential premises").
Earlier, on December 10, Sean Betrozov, a member of the Russian Bar Association, said that in the modern world of online shopping, where convenience and speed come to the fore, fraudsters are finding more and more sophisticated ways to use the habits of Russians to their advantage. One of the new methods gaining popularity is the use of fake Telegram bots posing as official services of major marketplaces.
